


Dæmon's Bond

by oneill



Category: Karneval
Genre: Alternative Universe - His Dark Materials Fusion, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-02
Updated: 2013-09-02
Packaged: 2017-12-25 09:18:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,041
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/951372
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/oneill/pseuds/oneill
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Written for the fic_promptly prompt: Author's choice, author's choice, dæmons</p>
            </blockquote>





	Dæmon's Bond

"This is no laughing matter! The chemical composition of that boy's tissues and the structure of his body both strongly resemble that of a dæmon!" The doctor snatched a book from Hirato's shelf and fanned hastily through the pages. "More specifically, a niji dæmon! Like this!" He held the book out to Hirato, who coughed to conceal a fresh round of chuckles.

"Hirato," Sanami whispered, bringing her muzzle close enough that her whiskers brushed his ear, "you're being rude to the doctor. Look at Yumi-shi."

Wiping a stray tear from the corner of his eye, Hirato glanced down at the doctor's dæmon--a smallish moon bear whose downy coat added an extra bit of girth to her already plump frame. Under normal circumstances, her pacific nature served to complement the doctor's ebullience. Now, she paced restlessly behind him, pausing only to shake out her ruff.

"Forgive me," Hirato said, sobering at the sight. "It's just rather difficult to believe that Nai could be a dæmon."

"Ehhh?!"

Hirato turned his gaze to the recently opened door just in time to see Yogi's weasel dæmon tumble off his shoulder in a dead faint.

"Eh? Ah! Emiri-chan!" Yogi crouched to catch her before she hit the ground. He cuddled her to his chest. "Emiri-chan, are you okay? Hey! Wake up!" As she stirred in his solicitous embrace, Yogi looked up, his eyes darting from Hirato to the doctor and back again. "But Hirato-san, what's this about Nai-chan being a dæmon? That's a joke, right? It has to be a joke, right?"

"Whoever made it has one hell of a sense of humor," Gareki muttered as he sidled around Yogi and into the room.

The doctor rounded on him, shoving a finger between Gareki's eyes. "Don't you start! What are you two doing here, anyway?"

Gareki hooked a thumb at the corridor and said, "The brat woke up."

"What? Say something sooner!"

 

"No matter how you say it, it sounds ridiculous," said Gareki.

He stood leaning against the far wall, his arms crossed over his chest, while the rest of them sat around a table of tea and pastries. Tsukumo sat beside Nai, one arm around his shoulders as he slumped so low he appeared to be attempting to vanish into the cushions. Her hummingbird dæmon, Senkan, flashed between hovering around Nai's head and darting alongside Emiri, who had been racing up and down Yogi's shoulders since they first sat down. Sanami lay curled at Hirato's feet, her coat gleaming like moonlight on fresh snow. The doctor had other business to attend, and so had left the explanations to Hirato.

"True," Hirato said. He paused to stir a lump of sugar into his tea. "However, having looked over the data, I must admit the possibility is very high. Moreover, despite Nai's apparent age, the scanners were unable to detect even a single mote of Dust on him. Just going by the results of these preliminary tests, Nai bears a striking resemblance to the Valga remains we've retrieved in the past."

"Valga or dæmons or whatever--you honestly expect me to believe something like that?"

"You yourself have mentioned that you find Nai's behavior strange at times. Besides that, is it common for your dæmon to slip into other people's laps?" Hirato gestured at Gareki's black rat dæmon, who seemed quite at home, nestled as he was in Nai's arms.

Tsukumo pressed a hand to her mouth to stifle a gasp. Gareki flushed and made a choking sound, then stalked across the room.

"Te--Tesso, you bastard!" Gareki yanked the dæmon up by his scruff--no mean feat as he was closer in size to a house cat--and swung him around to glare into his beady eyes. "I told you to stop _doing_ that! It's embarrassing, damn you!"

Tesso contorted to bite Gareki's wrist, then twisted in midair to land on his feet when Gareki dropped him. "What's embarrassing is how you keep throwing fits because you're awkward!" he shouted back. "Maybe if you were honest for a change, you wouldn't be so quick to snap!"

"What?! You wanna try saying that again, you damned plague rat!"

Hirato cleared his throat. "Setting Gareki's deceptive nature aside for the moment--"

"I don't want to hear that from _you_ , you fox bastard!"

"--the fact that Nai's dæmon form is likely that of a niji may give us a clue as to his origin. Dæmons can only settle into a form that suits their environment, so it's possible that Nai and Karoku's home lies somewhere within the Niji Forest."

"One thing I don't understand," said Tsukumo, "is how Nai-kun could have been separated from Karoku-san in the first place, if he's Karoku-san's dæmon."

"That's right," Yogi said, pausing with a lemon tart halfway to his mouth. "Even if this Karoku-san trained like we did to send his dæmon farther away than normal people, Nai-chan should still be able to sense where he is. Thinking a dæmon could be completely cut off like that . . ." Yogi's gaze dropped to his feet, and his shoulders drooped. Emiri slipped down the front of his shirt to curl around his belly. "That's harder to believe than a dæmon taking human form, I think."

"The two may be related," said Hirato. "Obviously, Nai's is a unique case, so it's difficult to draw on prior knowledge. We can only hope that Karoku left some record behind. That may give us further insight into the situation."

"I'll go," Nai mumbled, and all eyes turned to him. He continued to stare down at his now-empty lap. "To Niji Forest. If that will help find Karoku."

Hirato smiled. "That's very admirable; however, you'll go to the Research Tower first. Akari-san needs to conduct a thorough examination so that we can reach a more definitive conclusion."

"Then I'll go too," Gareki said. "Someone has to make sure he doesn't end up in a bunch of jars."

"Actually, we've already arranged to have you undergo an examination as well," Hirato said. He pushed his glasses up to cover his glance down at Tesso. Sanami's tail flicked once before she managed to bring it back under control. "It's standard procedure for anyone who's come into contact with a Valga, you understand."


End file.
